FLOOD06413

• County: Denver
• Community: All
• Stream Name: All
• Basin: South Platte
• Title: Floods in the Denver District during the Calendar Year 1947
• Date: 12/1/1947
• Prepared For: State of Colorado
• Prepared By: US Army Corps of Engineers
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Documentation Report

12. Tucker Gulch and Clear Creek. (Golden, Colo.) Very shortly
after midnight on June 6; 1948, a cloudburst type storm struck over the
drainage areas of Tucker Gulch,centering about six miles north.vest and
upstream from Golden, Colorado; The city was severely damaged by the
resulting flood flow l~lich piled up in Golden, Colorado, at the con-
fluence of Tucker Gulch ~nd Clear Creek, one-half hour luter.

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13; Discharge. The discharge, measured from definite high water
marks on a stretch of fairly stable channel of Tucker Gulch one-half
mile above Golden, indicated 11,600 cubic feet per second disch,..rge.
Crawford Gulch, a tributar; which enters Tucker Gulch 4-3/4 miles north-
west of Golden contributed 2,800 second-feet.

14. Damages. Two railroad bridges, two high'my bridges, two frame
residences, and a substantial garage were demolished and swept away. Gas
and ~{ater mains and telephone lines were damaged, service being disruptGd
for ap?roxirr~tely 12 hours. A tremendous amount of silt was deposited on
ci ty streets and lc.::.wns:l and filled numerous basements. A surmn.:.''...r"J' of the
daJllD.ge follows;

Summary of Damages

TOTAL

il40,250
23,000
6,000
2,000
20,000
$161,250

Residenti"l and grounds
Roads and bridges
Utili ties
Agricultural
Indireot

15. Spring Canyon Flood (Caohe la Poudre Basin). Late in the ufter-
noon of ~fuy 30, 1948, as a result of favorable upslope'winds building up
oumulo-nimbus clouds, a local cloudburst occurred in the area immedie.tGly
west of the Horsetooth Reservoir near Fort Collins. A bucket survey und
an intensive field examimlltion of the sterm area by staff members of the
F]c0~ Control Division of the United States For~st Servioe Station at
Fort Collins, Colorado, placed the storm center ubout tv/o mileswest of
Spring Canyon. The wc.tershed area of Spring Canyon, Soldiers Canyon,
Dixon Canyon, and other miscellaneous &reas discharging into the Horse-
tooth Heservoir, totals about eighteen square miles. The intense portion
of the storm covered an area of about 25 square> miles.

.,-;-'.>

16. Discharf;os. Slope-area measurements by the Forest Service at
points in or near the intense rC.infall area indicc.ted peak dischrl.rges on
the Spring Canyon triburtmry of 14,300 cubic feet per second from" 7.54
square "iile area ill1d 12,000 cubic feet per second from a 5.5 square mile
area. "Spring Canyon Dam," though under oonstruction (Burecu of
Reclamation), impounded ~st of the runoff.

17~ Damages. The biggest item of damnge from the Spring Canyon
flood vms incurred by the contrca.tor oonstructing the dam, who reporte d &
less of $100,000 when equipment and supplies were submerged behind tho
dam. Almost all the company"s equipment, including four six-ten electric

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